With high financial ambitions and associations with libertarian ideology, new blockchains have become the forefront of the commodification of digital art. Caught between contradictory aspirations as both currencies and speculative assets, cryptocurrencies are desirable for the purposes of financial fraud, the deregulation of money, price manipulation, and as high-risk investments. Exploring the frictions between a non-fungible token – something that can not be “funged” (changed) – on a so-called immutable blockchain, Unlock considers these limits of NFTs as a medium not only as a form of reference to a cultural gesture. Reclaiming the scammy environment of speculative blockchain protocols, and the ethical problems of compensating aura with spent energy; Unlock asks: Can a physical or unintended interaction manipulate an NFT? Can a generative manifesto be traded? Can the artist be trusted to control the artwork after it’s commodified? What risks are attached to a cultural asset that unexpectedly changes in context and conditions over time?

With the kind support of Mondriaan Fund.

Constant Dullaart - Obsessing over the intersections between art and technology, Dutch conceptual artist Constant Dullaart explores the ways in which the Internet has informed and manipulated our relationship with art and image. His practice investigates how art functions in digital spaces and how in turn the rules of authorship and originality are re-defined. His ruminations on these themes often have a playful feel, but at their root ask important questions about the contemporary landscape for the artist online.